Thunder Bay police charge 14-year-old girl with first-degree murder of Kayliegh Ivall
Police identified a 14-year-old girl from Thunder Bay as the accused in the homicide investigation
Members of the Thunder Bay Police Service have arrested and charged a teen girl with first-degree murder in connection to the death of 14-year-old Kayliegh Ivall.
Police said in a release on Tuesday, that as a result an ongoing investigation, members of the major crimes unit identified a 14-year-old girl from Thunder Bay as a suspect of the homicide.
Det. Inspt. John Fennel of the Thunder Bay Police Service said the accumulation of tips from the public and evidence from the scene helped officers to identify a suspect. He added that the investigation is ongoing.
"Right now just the evidence is, there has been the arrest, and of course the case isn't done yet. So as tips continue to come in they'll still be investigated and we'll see where the evidence takes us," he said.
Fennel said evidence from early on in the investigation lead officers to belive that the homicide was not random in nature.
The accused was arrested and formally charged in the afternoon hours of Monday, May 4, police said.
The accused appeared in bail court on Tuesday, May 5, and was remanded into custody with a future appearance date of Thursday, May 7. She cannot be identified because of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Fennel said police notified Ivall's family of the arrest, adding that the family continues to grieve with "a great deal of pain."
"As you can imagine they're still going through a great deal of pain and then every investigative step that we do, just I would say reignites it...you can imagine that they relive it again every time we visit them," he said.
The investigation into the sudden death began in the afternoon hours of Monday, April 27 after police were notified of the possible discovery of a body by a passerby in the area of Arundel Street near Lyon Boulevard. Ivall was later identified as the victim.
Police later confirmed they were treating the death investigation as a homicide. A post-mortem was completed in Toronto on April 30, 2020.
Fennel said the tip line created by police during this investigation will continue to be active, and he encourages the public to call the dedicated tip line at 807-684-1545 with any relevant information.